Enhanced Services

Students assigned to the Enhanced Services group, participate in the following:

Complete a Positive Personal Profile, an inventory of skills and interests to tell us what kind of work they like, where they feel most comfortable, and what they imagine for their future. This helps us help them customized employment in a targeted industry.

Apply for Pre-Employment Transition Services with Maryland’s Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS). Students and their parent/guardian meet with a DORS representative and can begin receiving a range of services, not just those included in the Way2Work project.

Work with a personal employment specialist to prepare for and find jobs. The employment specialist is the student’s personal coach who helps them develop their resumes, practice interviewing, visit possible employers, and learn on the job. These employment specialists work for non-profit agencies and have experience working with people with disabilities.

Complete three work-based learning experiences, at least one of them paid by the employer. These experiences range from internships to volunteer work to paid jobs, working alongside people who have found careers in that industry. Some examples of students’ work-based learning experiences include: grooming horses at a riding stable, performing customized glass-cutting for autos and homes, and setting up displays in a Science Center.

Students can work after school, on the weekends, and during school breaks. Some have been hired and plan stay in their jobs after graduation. Some have decided to go to college when they hadn’t considered that possibility before. In all cases, Way2Work participants learn about themselves, careers, and the world. We hope to show that this experience will improve the academic and career outcomes for students with disabilities as they transition to adulthood.

THE MARYLAND WORK-BASED LEARNING COLLABORATIVE IS FUNDED THROUGH A COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT WITH THE MARYLAND DIVISION OF REHABILITATION SERVICES (DORS) FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, REHABILTIATION SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (RSA), GRANT H4213160006. THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE POLICY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, AND YOU SHOULD NOT ASSUME ENDORSEMENT BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

The Vocational Rehabilitation program receives 100% of its funding through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for this project. For Federal fiscal years FY 17 to FY 21, the total amount of grant funds awarded were $7,519,895.